This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Read the originally released version. It is much better. This version is too long. This version shows the value of a good editor. Had this been the released version, it never would be the loved book it became. ( )

Underwhelmed with the caliber of writing for a book on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. I initially tolerated the misogyny of the male characters (with exception of the "Stranger," named Valentine Michael Smith, who was an 'innocent") and hoped I could find some redeeming quality to the novel. The author clearly has issues with women and uses the characters to express his offensive views. "Nine out of 10 women who are raped are partially to blame" Seriously?!?!

With that line, I ended my misery with the novel. Save yourself the disappointment and skip this one. ( )

I couldn't finish this novel. It started out with promise and degraded into an intoleratable mess. From what I've read of others' reviews, it doesn't get better at the end. The only benefit to having read as far as I did was that I now understand what "grok" means (and kinda wish it was a more acceptable part of our vocabulary). ( )

It was a re-read, I read it first about 100 years ago, in high school. And back then, boy I thought it was fantastic. Loved it. One of the best Science Fiction novels I had read by that time. I’m sure I raved about it and recommended it to anyone who would listen. That was long ago.

This time, I was really disappointed - I was eager for a second reading. I loved the beginning story line: An expedition to Mars leads to a Human baby being raised by Martians, then the hero, Valentine Michael Smith, is back on Earth where his powers are used to create a new, freaky Martian-based religion. Government intrigue, chases, excitement, lampooning religion!!! Until Smith meets Jubal Harshaw, and that’s when I started to have problems with the book.

Probably the biggest slap in my face was the comment that a main character, Jill, made: “9 times out of 10 if a girl gets raped it’s her fault.”

Wha—what—WHAT?!?!

And the homophobic remarks about “grokking a wrongness” in “poor inbetweeners” of gay men. I know it was written in 1961, but these examples are just too hard for me to overlook. I’m no damned “inbetweener.” And after reading these comments, about 70% into the book, I was just going through the motions, just wanting to get finished and done. It absolutely soured the whole book. I had a few more of Heinlein’s books on my reading list, but I’ve taken them off.

The great falling off in the quality of Heinlein's work came during the period that brought "Stranger in a Strange Land." Jubal Harshaw--who says things like "What the self-styled modern artists are doing is a sort of unemotional pseudo-intellectual masturbation"--is the first of a series of pompous libertarian windbags whose oral methane makes all of Heinlein's later tomes into rapidly emptying locker rooms.

Most of the material added to this new edition seems to consist of speeches by Jubal, and the rest of the new material includes nominally "shocking" sections that, aired in 1990, are glaringly sexist. For instance, lovable Jill volunteers the opinion that "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's at least partly her own fault."

Please distinguish this edited first publication of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) from the "original, uncut" version (1991). This would be ISBN #s 0-399-13586-3, 0-450-54267-X and 0-441-78838-6 and Science Fiction Book Club editions of 1991 (#17697 and a leather bound edition). There is a 60,000 word difference between the two. Thank you.

Stranger in a Strange Land, winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs.

The impact of Stranger in a Strange Land was considerable, leading many children of the 60's to set up households based on Michael's water-brother nests. Heinlein loved to pontificate through the mouths of his characters, so modern readers must be willing to overlook the occasional sour note ("Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault."). That aside, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the master's best entertainments, provocative as he always loved to be. Can you grok it? --Brooks Peck